


The Thistlespring Binder

by chaya



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series), Fantasy High
Genre: Asexual Character, F/F, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Queer Themes, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:56:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23497126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaya/pseuds/chaya
Summary: (Complete and total spoilers for the finale of Sophomore Year.)In which Riz is detail oriented and everyone settles in to the new normal.
Comments: 29
Kudos: 174





	1. Chapter 1

The gang has gotten really good at working together in a crisis, but post-crisis cleanup really just falls to Riz. He keeps extensive notes.

  * **THE JEWELRY STORE FIG TECHNICALLY ROBBED (BUT NOBODY'S MAD AT HER):**



Riz does some checks and finds that the store's insurance paid them back in full, and their rates didn't seem to go up, so that one feels like it's okay to leave as is. (There would have been no way to return the ruby, but they could have like, bought them a new one, or something.)

  * **BABY (GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN AND NOT EXACTLY MISSED):**



Riz honestly wanted this 'case' to stay closed but Fig _does_ end up going back to Hell and pricking her finger, and there _should_ have been a chance that that new drop of blood would turn into like, a _different_ familiar, not the _exact same_ creepy-voiced huge-eyed one that loves whispering and screaming, but the Bad Kids can't have nice things. By some sweet miracle Fig decides to send Baby to work (???) down in the Bottomless Pit, so at least he's not around often.

  * **SANDRA LYNN (BADASS BUT PROBLEMATIC RANGER MOM):**



Seems to be going to therapy. Both for shooting her daughter full of arrows and for the relationship stuff. She doesn't mention much about her new 'doctor' but the Bad Kids all agree in private that adults are often sort of shy about this stuff and they shouldn't bring it up or ask about it. She seems to be doing better.

  * **ARIANWEN ABERNANT (SHITBAG MOTHER):**



Riz brings this up with Adaine and she sort of shuts him down. And then visibly feels bad about it, and then says she knows how distressing it can be to not know important things, and then tells Riz that she's looked into it herself and her mother is basically hiding out in a hard-to-scry area that's probably keeping her safe from most people who are trying to find her. (But not safe from Adaine keeping tabs on her. And that's what matters.) Riz tells Adaine he trusts her to keep on top of it and lets it go. 

  * **AELWYN ABERNANT (REFORMED/REFORMING SISTER):**



Adaine was ready to kill her and now she's ready to share a room with her. Aelwyn seems to be... not a _completely_ different person, exactly, but _super_ different, for sure, kind of permanently deflated but also still very prim and proper and maybe a tiny bit racist. (But she's working on it.) Without her psycho parents looming over her she doesn't seem to want to destroy the world or really hurt anyone. So Riz keeps an eye from a distance and tries not to think about how often she's not at the Manor because she's at Fabian's place.

  * **THE N*GHT Y*RB**



Defeated. The less said the better. They're not allowed at that pool anymore.

  * **LYDIA BARKROCK (KILLER CHILI, SCARY DEMON EMBEDDED IN CHEST CAVITY):**



This takes some doing. Adaine has a lot on her plate so Riz is happy to handle the initial research, starting with interviews with Lydia and then follow-up with a bunch of ancient fucking tomes about old devils, and the differences between spells and abilities, because if they don't nail this down exactly, apparently this fucker could stun them all whether or not he's in an anti-magic sphere, which is fucking scary. Really, the more Riz dives into this one, the more he respects Lydia for not letting any doctors anywhere fucking near this gem.

Riz brings his research to Gorthalax to double-triple-check everything, and Gorthalax didn't know the guy but he knew the reputation, and agrees to help. Three weeks later the whole gang is in the gymnasium, prepped up, getting extra credit for a thirty-second fight that immobilizes Kranush the Unrelenting and sticks him in a shiny new gem. There's five seconds of silence after the spell resolves where everyone looks to the cot at the edge of the room, where Kristen is bent over Lydia and checking her out.

"We're good," Krsiten confirms, with a big thumbs up. "Just gonna restore some exhaustion away and we're all set." Everyone breathes out.

"That was strangely satisfying." Aelwyn tosses the filled gem into the Leomund's Secret Chest next to the bleachers in such a way that it clacks unpleasantly against the rim. (Riz isn't sure if Kranush can feel that, but the effort's appreciated.) "Does anyone have something else they'd like to be inaccessible forever? Incriminating paperwork, maybe some love letters from an ex? Last call."

Arthur Aguefort looks up from his evaluation clipboard. "Ms. Abernant, are you planning on destroying the miniature chest once dismissing the real one, thus rendering access to that pocket of the ethereal plane inaccessible? Those chests are expensive, to say the least."

Adaine walks over and puts a hand on her sister's shoulder. "This particular Leomund's Chest has been in our family for several generations," she explains to Aguefort with a radiant smile. "It's one of the few things that didn't burn down with the house, in fact!"

"A memory of, and connection to, your parents." Aguefort nods solemnly. "By all means, children. Smash the shit out of it."

Riz walks over and pulls out the contents of his pockets, finding a gum wrapper. He puts it in the chest. "The chest lining is like, velvet and fancy, so let's just cover it all with trash so he lives in a garbage can."

Fig laughs. She pulls a guitar string out of her case, doing her best to bend it into a phallic sort of shape before dropping it into the chest. "Bye, Oscar." Gorgug sidles up next to her and pulls a few receipts out of his pockets, crumpling them up a few extra times before dropping them in. "Oh, shit, wait, we could go get some old food for the cafeteria."

"It's going to be plenty gross and dark in there," Fabian counters. "I've got some receipts, though. Weren't we going to let Lydia spit on it? We should let Lydia spit on it."

"We're absolutely doing that," Lydia calls from her cot.

  * **THE SOULS OF KRISTEN'S PHILOSOPHERS AND PHILOSOPHY STUDENTS** :



After Riz's enforced "We All Need to Sit Down and Catch Each Other Up On Everything That Happened While We Were Separated" party, Kristen unloads... a lot, like a _lot,_ and not all of it makes sense at first, but Riz goes over his tapes later and it sounds like the souls were sort of under Sol's thumb while they were initially helping Kristen, and maybe they got in trouble for helping Kristen back to the weird pond.

So Riz talks to the Hangvan/Zaphriel, who suggests he talks to Gorthalax, who says that Sol could have maybe obliterated a lot of those souls depending on where they were originally hanging out or borrowed from, if they didn't belong in Sol's domain. Riz brings this up with Kristen and then Kristen just... _talks to Cassandra_ , which happens now, and Cassandra looks into it and finds a bunch of free-floating brainy types with long beards or cortados or whatever, and it turns out they are _extremely_ happy to be saved and live in the afterlife of a new god who barely even has a definition yet. It's kind of nice to think about them all hanging out together. Talking and arguing all day.

That's probably their heaven, Riz thinks, although they might not appreciate the word choice.

  * **CASSANDRA (NEW/ANCIENT THEY/THEM DEITY):**



A lot to process. Just, a _lot_. Honestly they're not a case to solve or a problem to fix so much as something that takes a lot of brainpower to just... accept.

They don't pop up in the Manor as often after the first week. They have more followers. Their personality seems a little more solid. They've got different outfits now. They seems to favor a big flowy sort of robe/dress that still has a tie dye sort of swirl to it, made out of galaxy swirls and stars.

Sometimes they smile at Riz, just a slight upward crease in the translucent glass specked with light. It feels like they love mysteries but it also feels like they can see into Riz and see every little detail he can't find himself. Riz tries not to think about it.

  * **TRACKER'S QUEST TO RESTORE THE TRUE GALICAEA (OR, THE TRACKER & RAGH SPIN-OFF THAT NOBODY SAW COMING BUT MAKES TOTAL SENSE):**



Tracker and Ragh are capable as shit, and they seem to have it on lock. It's not Riz's department anyway. There's no political corruption or espionage or anything Riz feels good at. When Kristen complains for the fifth time on the crystal chat that she misses her girlfriend, Riz finally rolls his eyes and texts back that she should have _gone_ with Tracker, and Kristen seems surprised, like it hadn't occurred to her that that was an option, and... yeah. Kristen's still Kristen.

  * **DAD (BEST SECRET AGENT DAD EVER):**



Riz visits his dad's grave once a week. He knows mom takes trips out to it too, now, on lunch breaks or on weird hours after her shift. The conversations feel different now that Riz knows his dad is _actively listening_ , there but not there on the other side of the gravestone, and he talks about his lists, about trying to wrap up all the little pieces, about the weird fame from the shrimp party and fight livestreams, on the mess with the N*ght Y*rb. He talks about everyone in the group, everyone adjacent to it, all the drama with parents and guardians and households and finally he just lays back on his backpack, up at the stars that are starting to become visible through the city haze. He's covered everyone.

He can kind of feel the question hanging in the air, like his dad is actually across from him, an expectant look on his face.

"I don't know how _I_ am," Riz admits finally.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the support so far! Some quick notes:
> 
> -The rating may change in future? I'll warn in the notes if that comes up.  
> -There are currently no ship tags, but that will probably change in future too. There are so many canon pairings that those at the very least will crop up over time.
> 
> Enjoy!

  * **EARNING MONEY (HAD A BUNCH, THREW IT ALL AWAY FOR SEMI-RELIGIOUS PURPOSES)**



"I can hire you," Fig says one day, when she overhears Riz asking Lydia if he can borrow Baxter sometimes to save on Ubers. "You should have said something earlier!"

"I don't want to be a roadie," Riz says. "I don't even have time to tour with you guys."

"Ayda teleports us home after gigs now. Saves us a ton of time."

Riz narrows his eyes. "So how does the bus get back?"

"We still have a driver. He drives it back." Fig scratches her cheek. "I actually think he really likes this setup better. Only having us for half the trip means he gets like, some quiet... am I loud?" She looks from Riz to the other couch, where Adaine is reading. "Adaine, am I loud?"

"Extremely," Adaine replies with complete serenity.

"Okay, okay." Fig turns back to Riz. "You can sort through my fanmail. Check for threats or weird hair clippings or whatever."

"I'm not doing that."

"One gold per letter."

"I am considering doing that."

Riz ends up doing that.

  * **BUD CUBBY (HALFLING ANARCHO-SOCIALIST, ICE CREAM ENTHUSIAST)**



Some of Riz's income goes toward local projects.

"Aw, pal, that's real kind of ya." Bud takes the bag of platinum and slaps Riz on the shoulder, in that small-guy-to-small-guy way. Riz nods and shrugs. "You guys doin' okay after all that mess out of state? No fascist pigs tryn'a follow you back here and give you hell about stepping over unjust laws in the name of what's right?"

"We're doing okay." Riz scratches the back of his neck. "Aguefort's legal team takes care of all that. This is just, you know, a belated thank-you for helping us with the... the jail thing, that one time. Now that I can afford to thank you."

"Well, you didn't have to do that, but it's very appreciated, I can tell ya." Bud beams. "You know your friend Fabian's donated to the cause too, right? We're always happy to have 'investors', but I certainly don't want any of you kids losing your financial stability for us while we're all still in the trap of late capitalism."

"R-right."

"Stay sharp, kiddo, I'll see ya around."

  * **HAT (BROUGHT IT HOME FROM THE FOREST, HAS TO BE SOMEWHERE)**



_No_ progress. Not at Strongtower, not at the Manor (he's mostly sure, you can only ever be mostly sure), definitely never made it back to school. The others keep insisting he looks better without it but he can't not have the poor kid mentality of "find it so we don't have to replace it". Every time he asks Adaine for magical help figuring out where it is, she's out of spells. Sucks.

  * **CASSANDRA AGAIN (STILL STARLIGHT, STILL KINDA OFF-PUTTING)**



Kristen sometimes does weird things like make a stack of books for her god to borrow. Riz isn't sure if gods... need to read a book, like _read_ it, from page to page to page, or if they can just touch it and know everything it says inside it, and this suspicion is reinforced when Cassandra takes Kristen's stack in their arms and kind of smiles at Kristen like she's a very thoughtful child who has handed over an indecipherable but very heartfelt crayon scribble drawing.

"Thank you," Cassandra says, and Kristen nods and makes a 'no problem' gesture, because as insightful as Kristen can be, sometimes she's still clueless.

(Cassandra returns them the next day, having 'read' all of them in whatever capacity they read books, and as they set Adaine's magic books by her door, and put the world religions books on the coffee table, they take the last book and hands it to... Riz.

He looks down at it. It's the weird binder that Gorgug's parents made for him and used to bring to school events.

"This isn't mine," Riz says delicately. "This is Gorgug's. Mr. and Mrs. Thistlespring made it as like... it's a reference guide? Well, I guess you read it, you know what it is."

Cassandra smiles. It's that smile Riz has been getting from them a lot lately, the gentle knowing one that puts him really off-kilter. "I thought you might enjoy it." They phase slowly out of the plane, like a shadow that emerges and disappears at the same time.

Riz looks down at the book. He thinks about it. Kristen's pile of books is on the coffee table because Kristen isn't here. She's checking on her brothers. Riz is pretty sure Cassandra, in all their visits to Mordred Manor, has never shown up when Kristen wasn't there.

Not sure what to make of that one.

  * **HANGVAN (NOW WITH MORE ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES):**



It takes Gorgug a few tries and some help from his parents, but the Hangvan has a deployable ramp now. Ragh's out on a mission, and relying on public transportation or apps when you need accessibility accommodations turns out to absolutely suck, so the Bad Kids take turns dropping her off and picking her up from physical therapy and doctor's appointments.

Lydia thinks "Zap" is a laugh riot. She, Zaphriel, and Riz kind of get to know each other on Riz's first turn driving.

"You're the one herdin' the cats, aren't ya," Lydia says at a stoplight, and Riz frowns at this.

"Herding the --? Oh, you mean the Bad Kids?"

"Your friends, yeah. My son included. They're all great kids, but not a lot of them have enough horse sense."

The light turns green. Riz presses down on the extended gas pedal. "Yeah, we've definitely set a few microwaves on fire in our time." A beat. "But Aelwyn knows about tinfoil now, that's really only a lesson you have to learn once."

Lydia cackles. "Well, just make sure you don't spend _all_ your time taking care of other people."

"I don't do that." Riz is looking at the road but he can _feel_ her eyes on him, boring holes with her mom-vision.

"Luggin' me back and forth from the doctors was originally a shared chore for the Manor kids. You don't _live_ at the Manor. You _opted_ to take a shift."

Riz shrugs uncomfortably. "I had time. I'm there a lot anyway."

"Uh huh." Lydia reaches forward a little, patting his shoulder. Her hand, even thin as she is, feels big enough to close around his head... but it's gentle. A mom pat. "Not _all_ your time, okay?"

  * **LEVIATHAN TATTOOS (FELT BRILLIANT IN THE MOMENT, NOT SO MUCH IN HINDSIGHT)**



Lesser Restoration isn't strong enough to get any ink out of the skin, but if Kristen super concentrates while she casts, Greater Restoration can clear about a two inch patch of skin at a time. That spell isn't cheap, though, so it gets done over several sessions.

"It's a good thing you're a goblin," Kristen says one evening, when they're sitting on the floor in front of the TV. Riz's shirt is folded up in his lap and Kristen is behind him, pressing her thumbs into his shoulder blade. She'll press in and then out, like she's wiping something away, and it'll sort of burn for a few minutes after, like a rug burn. (That's what happened when she did his chest, anyway. Hurt like a bitch around the nipples.)

"Why's that?"

"Because you're smaller. If you were like, Ragh-sized, I'd still be working on your pecs."

"No offense, but I am so happy that you never have to touch my 'pecs' ever again."

Kristen is snorting just as the door opens, and it's - Riz feels his ears perk up a little, and it's something about Fabian walks into the room, Riz _knows_ it's him.

"The Ball! What happened to your tattoos?" Fabian kneels down in front of the game show on the screen and pokes at his chest, aghast. "Kristen, are you putting them back?"

"She's taking them _off_ ," Riz corrects, swatting Fabian's finger away. "I look like a gang member. Who would have known you can make bad decisions on drugs?"

Fabian huffs. "Those were _helpful_ , though. All the clues? Remember the clues?"

"I remember."

"The Nightmare King, and the, the crown, and Garthy O'Brien, and the Night-"

" _Don't,_ " Riz and Kristen say in unison.

"Ugh, fine." Fabian gesticulates and gets to his feet. "They're _cool_ , though. They made you look _cool_. Ladies would have _loved_ them, The Ball."

Kristen, whose fingers are back to pressing into Riz's skin, makes an ambiguous yet dismissive sound. Riz feels his ears flatten down. Fabian twirls on a heel, making a confused expression at Kristen, but her eyes are probably closed. She's concentrating. In a few seconds, she's probably going to realize what she did and feel bad.

"Riz?" Fabian turns his confusion to him. "Do you not want to get your kisses in with women?" A beat. "It's no big deal, I just, I think we're all just used to Kristen and Ragh, they're like,"

"Loud," Riz supplies, trying to make a very big decision with very little time.

"Yeah." Fabian crosses his arms across his chest and shrugs, then shrugs again, like maybe the first shrug did not sufficiently convey how Riz's possible queerness is absolutely fine. "Like, whatever, you know?"

"Not super interested in kisses with anybody," Riz mumbles, and he's not sure he enunciated enough consonants for those to be considered words, but Fabian's eyebrows are up to his hairline.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously what?" Kristen takes her hands off Riz's shoulder and he feels that weird hot burn where the ink used to be. "Sorry, I was zoned out concentrating on how we can never truly know ourselves except in the mirror of others' perceptions."

"Your new magic is _weird_ ," Fabian tells her. "The Ball just, he just said he's _not into kisses_. Did you know about this?"

Kristen shrugs. "I mean, I guessed." She scoots back enough that Riz can start putting his shirt back on. (He feels _so_ exposed right now, it's ridiculous.) "So are you ace, or gray, or demi...?"

Riz doesn't even know what those really mean. "Not looking for a label right now." He jams his hand too hard in his sleeve and his fingers start poking out in the opening between the cuff and the button. Damn it. "Like, I'm not... seeing anyone. Right now. So it doesn't matter."

"Take it at your own pace," Kristen says. She can be spacey sometimes, but she sounds genuine about that, and Riz actually feels a little better. When he's almost done with his shirt buttons, he looks up at Fabian.

"Whatever you want to _be_ , is like, up to you. Not that it's a _choice_ , but it's like, it's _you_ , and you're _The Ball_ , you're all about _solving_ and in _vest_ igating and like, if you're not into, like, you know, _other_ stuff, that's _cool_. You're our friend."

"Good ally speech." Kristen gets to her feet and grabs the remote. "This is gonna turn into the news in a second, does anyone mind if I switch it to something else?"


	3. Chapter 3

  * **THISTLESPRING BINDER (DEEPLY CRINGE BUT POSSIBLY VALUABLE?)**



Once home, Riz digs through his briefcase and pulls out the binder Cassandra had given him. He hasn't really done anything with it since then, just... carried it around, everywhere, but to be fair, there's a couple hundred miscellaneous things in the briefcase of holding that he carries around everywhere. Some gum. His library card. A bus pass from last year that he keeps forgetting to throw away.

Riz has never actually _skimmed_ this thing. It seemed like a very high-level, birds-and-the-bees sort thing at first, and then, after the docking conversation, maybe something that got into the weeds _too_ much. Flipping through it now, he's seeing a table of contents, and - he checks the back - yes, an index. It figures that gnomes on the Thistlesprings' level would more or less make a technical document for their son and his friends.

'Ace' sends him to 'asexual', which sends him to a page explaining a lot of things that hit _scarily_ close to home. Mixed in with explanations of a spectrum and an umbrella of sub-identities are cheery reminders that 'all identities are valid' and 'it's okay to not be sure exactly where you fit, because you're a person, not a puzzle piece!'

Low or no interest in sexual activity. Low or no sexual attraction to others. Sometimes a reaction to some kind of trauma or stress. Sometimes just part of who the person is. Riz reads the last few sentences several times over before realizing that several times has become several dozen times. He rubs his nose and looks at his locked bedroom door, then starts at the top of the page and reads the whole thing again.

Then he shuts the book and stuffs it back into the briefcase. For now.

  * **CLASSES (SUPER AHEAD ON COMBAT, PRETTY BEHIND ON ALMOST EVERYTHING ELSE)**



Eugenia is honestly a really good teacher - she doesn't treat Riz like a star pupil but she also doesn't treat him like he doesn't have more fighting and adventuring experience than most of the other students in Rogue Class.

Not that Riz is, like, the _best_. There's a _firbolg_ in the class for crying out loud, they can just turn invisible once a day, it's just a _thing_ firbolgs can _do_. That's really fucking useful. Also, Riz needs to keep studying on lockpicking and even a little on hacking, because he hasn't had to focus on much of it lately and it's been falling behind.

They're in the middle of a lecture on tumblers when someone pokes Riz's back. He turns around.

"So I wanna ask you a favor," Fig whispers.

"Wh- what are you doing here?" Riz looks from her to the teacher, writing on the board.

"I'm learning how to break into shit! But I also wanted to ask you a favor."

"Ms. Figueroth?" Eugenia tilts her head, and several students turn as well. "What are you doing in Rogue Class?"

Fig shrugs. "I'm a free spirit."

Riz sinks lower into his seat. "Do you _ever_ go to Bard Class?"

"Don't worry about my GPA, I'm doing just fine. Maybe _you_ should be paying more attention to-"

Eugenia is pinching the bridge of her nose. "Honestly, if I didn't know you were in an adventuring group together, I'd think you were a married couple."

"Ma'am, please don't erase my identity by implying I-"

"Oh, I am very aware of your _paramour_ , Ms. Figueroth. Everyone in town is, after she wrote a three-foot scroll declaration of 'love and warning'. And nailed it to the coffee shop wall in the local shopping center."

Fig looks pleased as punch. "What can I say? Ayda's a traditionalist."

Eugenia looks done. "You can remain for the lecture if you stop bothering the other students."

Riz solidly fixes his eyes forward, looking at the board. When his crystal beeps in his pocket, it is very clear to anyone in the room that it's Fig texting him, but he ignores it until class lets out. Because _seriously_.

> _Fig: So the favor is, can you take Ayda shopping. Because Eug just told you all to go buy flash crystals for next week's stuff anyway so you're gonna be at the mall anyway???_

Riz stares at his phone.

> _Riz: Why are you asking ME_
> 
> _Fig: SHE LEARNED ABOUT SURPRISING YOUR S/O WITH NEW OUTFITS AND SHE'S SO EXCITED BY THE IDEA!! She doesn't want lengeray or anything lol, just like, outfits._
> 
> _Riz: Lingerie_
> 
> _Fig: What_
> 
> _Riz: It's spelled lingerie_
> 
> _Fig: So can you take her_
> 
> _Riz: Why are you asking ME though_
> 
> _Fig: You were the first person she thought of!_

Riz doesn't decide to do it for Fig. He does it for Ayda, who is honestly really cool and who has probably saved their lives like 20 times.

> _Riz: Sure_

**

It's about an hour later, five minutes past last period, when Ayda and Riz arrive above the mall parking lot. Riz watches the cars and signs become bigger and bigger as they begin to fly lower; Ayda slows down and sets Riz down very gently before dropping down to her feet.

"For future reference," Riz says, straightening his vest, "and I'm not upset, but this might be important for someone else - 'picking someone up' is usually like, in a car, or, or even just meeting up with them to go somewhere else, it's usually not-"

Ayda blinks several times. "I've already learned something. Yes. Good."


End file.
